Fidelity Research cartridges

@nandric sad news about Axel, hope he’ll be ok

@rauliruegas exactly ("dead of alive", i like that), i have sold some very rare records to cover my expenses on those god damn cartridges, because so many people swear they are so good and i need to hear it myself.

The next quest is phono stage for them, still got my ZYX Pre-Preamp CPP-1 (headamp), but it was designed for 0.24 mV ZYX.

My Lundahl transformers in my WLM Phonata Reference MM/MC phono stage are not designed to handge so low output (but maybe i can just replace the transformers inside this stage myself). This product disappeared from the market before it was widely released, i got demo unit from the first run, because the WLM (Wien Loudspeaker Manufaktur) closed their business.

And my newest JLTi phono stage with high gain can handle 0.22mV but probably still need more gain for carts like Ortofon MC2000, FR-7f and Fidelity-Reasearch PMC-3. Maybe Joe Rassmusen of JLTi can modify his phono stage for more gain option...

just to give the former Nandric FR7F cartridge an ongoing history..., this cart is now playing (as part of my collection) on various Micro Seiki turntables, currently fitted into an Fr64s silver arm on a SX 8000 MKII turntable.   The second arm on the turntable is an Ikeda 407. Standard cartridge is the Ikeda 9 TS .
After having used the Ikeda KAI, I stayed with the 9TS to continue my search for the best cart in FR64s or the Ikeda 407.
Today I fitted a Koetsu Onyx Platinum into the Ikeda 407.(Yamamoto Titanium headshell and Titanium screws, Dereneville head shell mat and Ortofon LW 800s head shell wire)
I have to say, this Koetsu Onyx platinum is a really nice one :-)
Looking forward to try it out in the FR64s.
Juergen


phonopre: Kondo M7 / SPZ, Thoeress 
Pre: Air Tight ATE 2001amp: Air Tight ATM 211
speakers: Zingari Client Name Evo 1.5

@ausliebesurmuzik, please let me know what you think of the 407/Yamamoto/Koetsu combo.  I just received an HR-6s headshell and mounted a Koetsu RSP on an FR-64S.  I was interested because it is unclear to me how to fine adjust the zenith given the headshell’s fixed mounting holes. Luckily I can adjust my tonearms position relative to the spindle for overhang.

Currently runnin my Fidelity-Research PMC-3 with zyx cpp-1 (125ohm, additional 26db gain) headamp paired with JLTi 47k MM input with very good result. This compo sound better than another mm phono stage with build-in suts, also better than JLTi relatively high gain MC input. So this god damn zyx pre-preamp is a good device, i have not used it for a long time. The nest device for comparison will be Luxman 8030 silver SUT for low impedance FR-7f.